First Solar
First Solar, Inc., a solar technology company, provides photovoltaic (PV) solar energy solutions in the United States, France, India, Chile, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells PV solar modules with thin film semiconductor technology that provides conventional crystalline silico…
First Solar, Inc., a solar technology company, provides photovoltaic (PV) solar energy solutions in the United States, France, India, Chile, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells PV solar modules with thin film semiconductor technology that provides conventional crystalline silicon PV solar modules. It also designs, manufactures, and sells cadmium telluride solar modules that convert sunlight into electricity. The company serves system developers, independent power producers, utilities, commercial and industrial companies, large corporate energy buyers, and other system owners and operators. The company was formerly known as First Solar Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to First Solar, Inc. in 2006. First Solar, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.Looks undervalued
Other models: USD 39.11–295.27 (median 216.27). The recommended value is in line with them.
Why: Free cash flow cannot be used (negative or far below earnings, with too little history to normalise it), so value is based on reinvestment-adjusted earnings.
Details and the full model are below.
Market price below modeled range
Earnings-based DCF using TTM through 30 Sep 2026 net income, of which 70% is treated as distributable after reinvestment, with no extra debt or cash adjustment because net income is already after interest. Used because free cash flow or dividends do not give a usable base. Base assumptions are 17.66% growth, 3.25% terminal growth, and 11.5% discount; this illustrative range is not a statistical confidence interval or investment advice.
Assumptions: growth 17.66%, discount rate 11.50%, terminal growth 3.25% (sector defaults). See a worked example.
Blended growth assumption: 17.7% (sector default 8.5%, own revenue history 15.6%, analyst revenue consensus 23.3%).
5-year outlook: relative outlook of about 14.3% a year (High confidence), anchored to a 7% market return and adjusted for how this company ranks against others. A ranking aid, not a prediction. See the full forecast.
Analyst consensus expects revenue growth of 23.3% a year; the growth assumption used is 17.7%.
Adjust assumptions
Why this model: Free cash flow cannot be used (negative or far below earnings, with too little history to normalise it), so value is based on reinvestment-adjusted earnings.
Compare models- Recommended: Earnings-based DCF — USD 264.21 (+35.0%)
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EPS-based Gordon proxy
— USD 216.27 (+10.5%)
Not used: Treats all earnings as if paid out and ignores the cash kept for reinvestment, so it overstates value for companies that retain most profit.
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DCF (trailing free cash flow)
— USD 60.19 (-69.3%)
Not used: Free cash flow is only 13% of net income, so a cash-flow model is probably depressed by investment timing.
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FCFF (steady state)
— USD 39.11 (-80.0%)
Not used: Free cash flow is only 13% of net income, so a cash-flow model is probably depressed by investment timing.
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EV/EBITDA (12x)
— USD 295.27 (+50.8%)
Not used: Used only when free cash flow is far below earnings even after averaging three years; a fixed 12x multiple also ignores sector differences.
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Fade DCF (10-year growth fade)
— USD 59.55 (-69.6%)
Not used: Free cash flow is only 13% of net income, so a cash-flow model is probably depressed by investment timing.
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EV/Sales (Rule of 40)
— USD 648.51 (+231.3%)
Not used: Used only when cash-flow models land far below the price; here they do not.
| Bear USD 200.46 | 2.3% |
| Base USD 264.21 | 25.9% |
| Bull USD 370.52 | 47.2% |
Margin = (value − price) / value, so it is measured against the value and reads lower than the upside to value, which is measured against the price. Positive means the price is below that case.
At USD 195.76 the market implies about this annual free-cash-flow growth for 5 years (terminal 3.3%, discount 11.5%).
Compare: the market implies 10.0% a year, this model assumes 17.7%. The model is more optimistic than the price, which is why it reads as undervalued.
How the Earnings-based DCF value changes with growth (rows) and discount rate (columns). Green cells are above the current price.
| Growth \ Discount | 9.5% | 10.5% | 11.5% | 12.5% | 13.5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.7% | 302.62 | 259.17 | 226.30 | 200.59 | 179.94 |
| 15.7% | 327.82 | 280.46 | 244.64 | 216.63 | 194.13 |
| 17.7% | 354.75 | 303.19 | 264.21 | 233.73 | 209.26 |
| 19.7% | 383.48 | 327.43 | 285.07 | 251.96 | 225.38 |
| 21.7% | 414.12 | 353.27 | 307.30 | 271.37 | 242.53 |
Track record: see the methodology page for how this model has performed historically, including its limits. Treat it as a screen, not a forecast.
Price history and fair value
No chartable saved daily price history is available for this range. The chart uses stored EODHD prices only and will appear after history is saved.
More detail: quality, peers, price history, dividends and financials
Quality score: 84 / 100
Five equal checks on reported history: profitability, cash generation, revenue growth, balance sheet and margins. It describes business quality, not whether the price is attractive.
| Profitability | 4 of 5 years profitable | 16 / 20 |
| Cash generation | free cash flow positive in 2 of 5 years | 8 / 20 |
| Growth | revenue +17.6% a year | 20 / 20 |
| Balance sheet | net cash | 20 / 20 |
| Margins | EBITDA margin 51% | 20 / 20 |
Peers in Information Technology
Same-sector companies with a valuation, most undervalued first. Compare the margin of safety, yield and quality score side by side.
| Company | Price | Margin of safety | P/E | P/B | Yield | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FSLR (this company) | USD 195.76 | 25.9% | 11.3 | 1.9 | – | 84 |
| SMCI Supermicro | USD 27.08 | 50.8% | 8.5 | 1.3 | – | 68 |
| SNDK Sandisk | USD 806.43 | 44.1% | 6.4 | 6.8 | – | 76 |
| ADBE Adobe Inc. | USD 246.44 | 42.5% | 13.4 | 8.3 | – | 100 |
| IT Gartner | USD 198.07 | 35.7% | 13.3 | – | – | 92 |
| INTU Intuit | USD 354.84 | 31.9% | 21.1 | 5.1 | 1.4% | 100 |
| HPQ HP Inc. | USD 29.44 | 31.6% | 11.1 | – | 4.0% | 64 |
| GIB-A.TO CGI Inc. | CAD 115.51 | 26.9% | 13.9 | 2.4 | 0.6% | 90 |
| COHR Coherent Corp. | USD 169.76 | 15.1% | 34.7 | 3.0 | – | 73 |
| Peer median | 13.3 | 4.0 | ||||
Trailing 12-month financials
TTM through 30 Sep 2026 · quarterly EODHD data · data downloaded 06 Nov 2026 12:24
| Revenue | USD 5,014,151,000 |
|---|---|
| EBITDA | USD 2,541,848,000 |
| EBIT | USD 1,957,951,000 |
| Net income | USD 1,861,134,000 |
| Free cash flow | USD 232,789,999 |
| Capital expenditures | USD 606,389,000 |
| Debt | USD 324,974,000 |
| Cash | USD 1,624,075,000 |
| Working capital | USD 3,243,238,000 |
| Shares outstanding | 107,702,000 |